“Hmm,” West grunts and then hands me his phone.“Why don’t you put your number in there?Might make it easier for you to contact me if you need a lift to any of those baby appointments you gotta go to.”
I grin.“West Winchester, are you saying you wanna be my stand-in baby daddy?”
His panicked eyes dart from the road to mine and back again, and I swear, he turns the cutest shade of red.Who knew he was so easy to ruffle?“What?No.That’s not what I ...er ...that’s not exactly what I meant.”
“God, you are just too serious these days.”I shake my head and put my number in his phone, but I don’t exactly save it under Daisy-Mae.“When was the last time you actually had fun?”
“I have fun,” he grumbles.
“Roping cattle and beating up your brothers don’t count.”
“Fine.Then I don’t have fun.”
“That’s okay,” I say with a quiet sigh.“I don’t really have fun either, not since ...”
“Eddie?”
I don’t know why, maybe it’s my nerves, or maybe the idea of having fun with Eddie is so ludicrous that I choke on a laugh.“No.Eddie was a lot of things, but fun wasn’t one of them.”
“Maybe fun is overrated.”
“Or maybe we’re just old and cynical now, but I like to think I could still have fun ...with the right person.”
“I hope you find that, Dais,” West says, as we pull up to the Bed and Breakfast.
“You too.”I open my door before I can say something I’ll regret, like, “We could help each other find fun.”
West says, “So I’ll see you here at five?”
“I’ll be here.”I wave him off and head up the porch stairs.“Don’t forget to share those pastries.”I wink and slide my key in the lock, opening the front door.
“Quit fat-shaming me, woman,” West yells out the window before he drives off, leaving a plume of dust in his wake.I watch his truck all the way to the end of the road.Something tells me West and I could have a lot of fun.My God, Daisy-Mae.What in the hell is wrong with you?There is no way West Winchester is interested in me.He’s just being sweet, is all.
You weren’t even important enough for your mama or husband to stick around for.That little voice twists the knife ever deeper.Most days I’m chipper enough at blocking it out, but every so often, that doubt creeps in and reminds me I’m all alone in this world.At least until my baby comes.Then, we’ll be our own little family, just me and him against the world.
I cradle my belly as I step across the threshold.“Come on, baby.We don’t need no one else.We’ll make our own fun, won’t we?”
He gives a little kick against my palm, and I take it to heart that he knows what I mean and he likes that idea a lot.
